It's been a very long time since I've had an FO post, and an even longer time since it's been a Friday FO. I've definitely had a slower knitting year than I had anticipated thus far, but also, I tend to forget about the actual post, slap a picture in my gallery, and move on. Not this week. These babies are getting their own actual, factual, FO debut.

True to form, I took way too much knitting to Seattle last week, and I didn't finish a single thing. I did prevent myself from packing the spindle I had set out, though... or more accurately, Alicia reminded me that there is a line, and while I am definitely somewhere past it, there are still crazier places to go if I'm not constantly vigilant. (Thanks Alicia! The Internet... It's like the Knitter's Buddy System so no one gets left at the rest stop on a field trip. Ask me sometime what the truck stop outside of Delphi, Greece is like at 2 am, and why I'm such a strong proponent of the buddy system.) So, I didn't spin in Seattle.

I did, however, work on these socks, and then last night I stayed up late to bind them off.

They've been on the needles for five months. Really, five months. I started them the first of January for the Sock Knitters' Anonymous Flora and Fauna themed challenge.

The pattern isn't hard, and I like the yarn. I ended up using three (or maybe even four) brands of needles in knitting them, thinking maybe a different needle/yarn combo would make me more inclined to actually pick them up regularly, but nothing worked until I got crankier with having them undone than I was when I made myself work on them.

They're very nice socks. If you like them, don't take my disinterest to be a reflection on the pattern (it's quite well written and charted) to be a deterrent. Really, it was me, not them.

They're currently soaking in the sink with wool wash, and when they're dry they'll be unceremoniously stuffed in an envelope and sent off to my aunt in California (who may or may not read this blog-- she's not a knitter, but I've been told she sometimes stops by anyway. These aren't a surprise, in any case.) I made her a pair of green socks last year, but in a tragic incident involving superwash wool and my refusal to properly swatch for socks, they went from being her size to being approximately twice her size. (Those socks are now Devin's favorite socks. This is why it's important to have friends and family in a variety of shoe sizes.)

Anyway, the point is that not only is it really hard to take pictures of your own feet, these aren't even my size. They should fit my aunt quite well, though.

I'll admit, one of the reasons I pushed to finish these is because June is Literary month in SKA, and I've been very excited about literary-themed socks. Also, Rose Hiver (Rav link-- she appears to be blogless, quelle horreur!) is one of the featured designers, and I love her work. But. These were January's socks... and February's socks are mere suggestions of yarn on needles, and May's socks aren't even actually on the needles, and I have other knitting besides socks that requires my attention... And really, the next pair of socks I cast on should be for Dad since his sweater is taking forever and his scarf has been in time out for six months. I can always knit literary themed socks another month, right?

We're driving up to Seattle for the long weekend, and I'm trying to be reasonable. We'll be gone about 48 hours, total; approximately six of those hours are driving hours-- and I'll be driving. Probably sixteen of those hours I'll be sleeping (as one does). So, at most I'll have 26 potential knitting hours-- and that's pretending that I will actually be knitting all of those hours, which I won't be.

I have 40 more rows on the cuff of one sock, and half a foot, the heel, and the cuff of a different sock. I don't need to take more than these two socks with me... I'm not a fast knitter, that's plenty of knitting, and the idea that I might run out in the 48 hours I'll be away from the stash is ludicrous. I don't need an "emergency" skein of yarn. I really, really don't.

... is change. Just in case I was starting to feel comfortable with the amount of upheaval in my life this summer, my web-host (Weebly; I'm quite fond of them, mostly, except when I run into something I want to do but can't. Great customer service, though, even when they're politely saying "No.") has decided to upgrade the interface for editing, and it remains to be seen how rough of a transition this is going to turn out to be.

Hopefully, what's showing up on the left is the weird floppy saucer thing that is my version of Celestarium; I'm knitting it in Knitted Wit Bantamweight, which is a light fingering. I didn't really check my gauge, and now I'm a little nervous it's going to be too small-- beading aside, it's a basic Pi shawl construction, and I just increased for the penultimate time, and it's only 10.5 inches across. Of course, there's another 50-ish rows to go on this chart, the last set of increases, and 50-ish rows in the last chart, so maybe it'll be ok? Not having a gauge swatch, I have no idea if this yarn (superwash corriedale) will grow when it's blocked... actually, I have no idea how to block a circular shawl at all. Toss in a comment if you've got a brilliant, tried and true method, please and thank you.

(I can't believe the best link I could find for Pi Shawls was the Wikipedia entry on EZ. Clearly I need more/better caffeine.)

There's both a lot of things happening around here, and a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. All of the (lack of) activity has thrown off my ability to reliably keep track of the little things-- like what day of the week it is.

I'm really looking forward to having a more structured life in August.

In the meantime, for the first time since April, I present to you my YOP many-times-revised list, a day later than I had planned, since apparently it's Monday. Who knew, right? I'm changing the order up a bit because I'm starting to think about what happens after next month (since my "year" of projects is actually only 50 weeks long).

I used the Knitty tutorial to figure out how to seam the nook cover; it's a little lumpy, and it turned out a little too big for the actual nook-- which I find hilarious because I ripped out the start of it three times for being too small/too big/too small. Anyway, I keep calling it "wonky" and Devin keeps pulling it out to show everyone in the world how fabulous it is... seriously, if you're in Portland, on MAX, and you mention that you maybe read something once, don't be surprised if a tall, beautiful redhead pulls out her nook cover to show it to you because, you know, you can read things on a nook. She's a sweetheart.

I have two socks, and two half-socks. One of the half socks is toe-up and the other is cuff-down. Yet, I don't have a pair of socks. Anyone else get grumpy when they realize their knitting has a mean sense of humor?

Also, I started insane wedding-based knitting that will probably eat up what's left of my sanity in addition to all of my knitting time in the next six weeks. I can't explain it; it seemed reasonable when I cast on.

Still on my radar/queue for this YOP... (7)

yom kippur tee

stranded tee (Pattern: Umbrellas/Yarn: Spud and Chloe Fine)

sweater: Fit to Flatter (Pattern: Bel Air/Yarn: Imperial Yarn Tracie)

socks, SKA February (Pattern: Rampant/Yarn: Ella Rae Lace Merino)

socks, SKA May (Pattern: Swedish Fish)

SKA June 2013

SKA July 2013

This portion of the list has been ruthlessly culled. While I still don't think all of this is possible before the end of June (especially given the wedding madness, mentioned above), these are the things I'd still like to at least get a start on. To be fair, I've swatched for Bel Air, and had every intention of casting on... until I poached the needles for the wedding thing. And I had the Yom Kippur Tee done to the armpits before I had to frog it. Anyway, I've decided to switch patterns for the Yom Kippur Tee-- I'm thinking either sunny side [up!] or Gilligan... although I also keep coming back to Gemini.

The projects that have dropped off the list are still floating around in my head, but I've decided to give myself a break/concede to reality, and stop listing them as if I'm going to have anything to do with them in the next six weeks... because, frankly, I'm not.

I've got spinning on the wheel and spindle (it involves flicking locks on a dog slicker; there is much fun to be had when discussing these things in public if you're a people-watcher), but the pictures are not quite ready. Also, if I leave spinning for later, maybe I'll be able to remember that Tuesday generally follows Monday and precedes Wednesday...

I should start by saying that the list looks almost exactly the same as last week. Miniscule movement includes a new vanilla sock that's in the process of being gusseted, and a nook cover that's got its knitting done, but still needs making up... which means that I need to spend some quality time with YouTube (or possibly Purl Bee or Knitty tutorials) to learn the mattress stitch.

No pictures, though, which means (according to blogland rules) that none of this progress is necessarily for real-- which kind of matches my general experience of the week.

You know those weeks that include exciting steps forward for the future, but effectively leave you in the same place for the present? I'm having one of those-- I have a job (yay!) but it doesn't start until August, and I can't even start planning for it because the school is still ironing out what classes they need me to cover. We're moving, but not until the end of July (for those of you tracking these things, that means a wedding and interstate move in the same month. We understand that this both makes us certifiable now, and will make us more so then.) and it's hard to figure out where we can rent when we're not prepared to sign a lease for another three months. The wedding is a bunch of items on what feels like a never-ending list, and I swear for every one I cross off, three more pop up. I also appear to be gaining and losing the same five pounds over and over again, which is really just a lot of fun. Being a grown-up is definitely overrated this week.

So, I'm a little scattered 'round here, and I've been flitting like a bee from knitting project to knitting project, to spinning project, and back again all week... making progress miniscule at best. At least I haven't had to rip anything out, right?

I've been knitting Devin a nook cover out of a skein of handspun. It's a skein she kept petting every time she walked past the bowl of handspun, and it's the skein she would periodically pick up, squeeze, and then sigh as she put it down and glared subtly at whatever knitting was in evidence that was clearly not her handspun nook cover.

Blarneyyarn BFL, 2 oz of "Iris" plied against 2 oz "Orchid"

It's a little wonky (what of my knitting isn't?), and if I were inclined to perfect it I have a list of things I would do differently, starting with going down a needle size. But, it's almost done now, so it'll have to do. I deliberately knit it flat so I could have the opportunity to practice seaming. I hate seaming. I'm terrible at it. And, it just occurred to me that I'm going to have to block it before I seam it since it's stockinette and it's curling like there's a competition.

On the other hand, I'm having a lot of fun knitting this rectangle of stockinette. I stayed up late last night doing the "one more row" thing because I'm so easily amused. Who knew it would stripe? Not me!